Dear Fellow Classmate,

It has been a year since you left this world in peace, free from the pain you were suffering in. I did not think I would face the experience of losing a classmate until we reached our retirement years, or at least after three class reunions, but never have I thought it would occur eight months after graduating high school. These past 366 days have taught and showed me what it means not to take life for granted, to cherish every moment, knowing that someone had plans today, tomorrow, and next week.

I continue to embrace the memories I had with you from elementary school to high school: our times in latchkey, the very few classes we had together, practicing our cheer routines for tryouts, and seeing you around in the hallway with at least one friend by your side. It felt as though eighth grade only ended last week, when we would waste our summers and evenings after school scrolling through (or liking) each other’s and classmates’ “tbh” Facebook statuses. It’s funny how I would snoop through your photo albums loaded with selfies of friends, living up life when little did we know that yours would be cut short less than five years later. I have always admired your high-maintenanced appearance: perfect, blonde hair that was the color girls bleach theirs to; blue eyes that twinkled when you smiled or spoke; shrill laugh when I was being insulted; and generally carefree but contagious spirit.

Not a day goes by when I don’t think about the sick feeling in my stomach as I read the dozens of posts confirming your death the following morning. Everyday I would hope this was all a dream I could wake up from. I will never recover from this as I, to this day, continue to wrap my head around the fact that you really are gone. I never thought I would lose someone I had so much history with since you were one of the first people I met when I moved to our town 14 years ago. When you left, a chunk of my childhood went with you.

Thank you for spending the last 12 of your 18 years of life with me, from field trips to sharing the stress of state testings. Please know that I would have donated WAY more than $25 to your gofundme campaign if I could. As I have said in my Facebook status to you: on the day(s) I graduate college--plural, depending if I decide to attend graduate school--I will think of you as I receive my degree. I am not only doing this for myself and my own family; I am doing it for you and for any other classmate we may lose along the way. Here’s to being 18 years old forever. I am keeping your family and close friends in my thoughts and prayers more than ever.

Yours truly,

Bryanna